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An Garda Siochána social media accounts promoting cryptocurrencies after apparent hack

Thejournal.Ie • October 15, 2026

AN GARDA SÍOCHÁNA’S main accounts on the social media platform X appear to have been hacked and are promoting cryptocurrencies in a significant security breach.

The @gardainfo and @gardatraffic accounts on X (formerly Twitter) have both been affected.

The @gardainfo account is the main X account used by An Garda Síochána and has hundreds of thousands of followers. The @gardatraffic account is used for road safety updates and has over 600,000 followers.

The feeds of both accounts are full of hundreds of posts advertising a cryptocurrency wallet application.

Users on X began reporting that the @gardainfo account appeared to have been hacked shortly after 11pm on Wednesday night.

The handle on that account has since changed to @XummHelpx.

The @gardatraffic account still has its original handle at the time of reporting.

One of many identical posts on the @gardatraffic X account The Journal The Journal

Each one of the posts tags a different X user and invites them to claim an “allocation” of XRP, a type of cryptocurrency coin.

Fraudulent cryptocurrency promotions are often used by scammers.

Both accounts now purport to be located in the Netherlands.

An Garda Síochána has been contacted for .

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This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.

Garda Social Media Accounts Hacked to Promote Cryptocurrency On October 15, 2026, An Garda Síochána confirmed that their official social media accounts on X, specifically @GardaInfo and @GardaTraffic, were hacked. The accounts began posting unauthorized content promoting cryptocurrency, including links to a wallet service. The breach occurred overnight, with the accounts' locations changed to Amsterdam, and the @GardaInfo account renamed to @XummHelpx. Gardaí assured the public that their internal systems were not compromised and no Garda data was lost. They issued a warning advising users not to interact with any suspicious posts from these accounts. The incident raised concerns about potential fraud targeting the public. Gardaí are currently investigating the breach and working with the X platform to determine how the unauthorized access occurred. 14 sources 41

An Garda Siochána social media accounts promoting cryptocurrencies after apparent hack

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